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Thread: Substitute for penetrating oil

  1. #1

    Default Substitute for penetrating oil

    This story has been doing the rounds for a while and enough people have reported on its effectiveness for it to be considered credible......

    If you need penetrating oil and don't have any PB Blaster or Kroil handy, you can make your own using a 50:50 mix of power steering fluid and acetone.

    But be careful. This stuff has a very low flash point so keep it away from anything hot. And acetone is extremely dangerous to humans; wear gloves, protect your eyes and absolutely do not inhale its vapour.

    More info here: http://sterkel.org/papers/vintage/Te...ating_Oils.pdf

    Gone to Volvo


  2. #2

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    penetriene is the best I have ever seen/used.. but nice to know there is a DIY meth lab style way of doing it too...

    Doc

  3. #3

    Default

    I'd avoid both, or any combination of both in applications that might be close to rubber hoses or fittings. Both hydraulic power steering fluid and acetone will attack these in short order. Good ultra-light sewing machine oil will do an excellent job in the absence of any real penetrating oil. Similarly, bike chain oil called Pro-lube is a first class alternative, being super thin.

    As Doc says, Penetrene is good although I've never bought it, but used some provided by a third party on some jobs. I've used Inox on everything since it came out. It's colourless, non-staining, non-toxic, non-sticky, non-gumming, disperses water, and is non-reactive to rubber and neoprene. I've used it on my plane, boat, firearms and cars and around the house with equal efficacy and no adverse effects.

    There is an excellent product called G-96 available from gun shops that is used to lubricate and protect the delicate mechanisms in guns and the metal surfaces. It's really space-age / US military developed stuff, though I tend to use it as a lube / protectant rather than as a penetrating oil, but it would do the job well.

    Unless I'm really stuck for options, I won't touch "Toolkit in a Can", WD-40, DWF or any of the related products now, as they all have a similar base and all get gummy after the solvents evaporate to leave the oil base.
    Last edited by Doug_MPS6; 23-05-2010 at 12:09 PM.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  4. #4

    Default

    I forgot to mention that the home brew version should also be kept away from painted surfaces.

  5. #5

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    mechanic in a can.. if I had to would be maxsolve. Its costly though

  6. #6
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    Default

    I have tried just about every commercial brand of penetrating oil and quite a few industrial penetrants that are not commercially available and as yet have not found one that works successfully.

    Restoring basket case motor vehicles often requires the use of a penetrant to remove a siezed bolt. I have just recently had to cut off 7/16" head studs and drill them out as no pentrant would penetrate. On a 1922 Dodge motor.

    I once soaked some special 1920's wheel bolt's (carriage bolts & nuts) for months in penetrine. As the bolts were what were important to save (unavailable in OZ) I carefully cut off the nuts. The penetrine had not pentrated a single thread either end of the nut.

    So thanks for the post, I will definitely be trying the mixture.

  7. #7

    Default

    I guess y' gotta accept that the process of corrosion, when given enough time to operate, simply works to effectively recombine two once separate surfaces. There's a lot of ions getting around and each ionic "movement" is removing and redepositing metal, and when both mating surfaces are made of essentially the same material, whether it be ferrous-ferrous or non Fe alloy-non Fe alloy, the process will eventually merge both surfaces into one mass of common metal, such that even if one sawed through longitudinally, one would be scarcely able to visually or even electronically discern the boundary that once defined the individual components. This does not leave avenues for lubricant penetration

    For excessively rusted components where I really need to recover the original in the best possible shape, I make up an electrolytic cell that will remove the rust but leave the non-oxidized metal. Unfortunately, this probably could not be reliably or practically employed in the example cited above with the 1922 Dodge engine, unless the components are small enough to get into a cell and the solution can access the surfaces you wish to restore or recover. But I find it valuable for cleaning up such fittings as those having a thread whose make and pitch I can't determine due to rust, and for cleaning up the flats so they will take a spanner, and for delicate old firearm parts that don't take kindly to being handled roughly, over-torqued or stripped, or that are hard to get.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  8. #8
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    Default

    I also tried molassis with a small charge - it cleans spotlessly but still didn't penetrate. I was surprised when I cut off the nuts at the cleanliness of the threads, but no sign of pentration - completely dry.

    Charged molassis is excellent, but you have to be careful to clean and paint ASAP - begins to rust almost immediately.

    Over the years I have experienced different metals welding themselves together eg ferrous bolts in non ferrous housing (steel in Aluminium), no amount of any penetrant will help remove the bolt with that scenario.

  9. #9

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    I learned some scary things about acetone at uni. It's a very effective transport agent. Not only will it easily penetrate the human body, but would probably carry many of the compounds from whatever it is mixed with right through the skin and deposit them in the blood and lymphatic system. It's incredibly dangerous stuff. So that's what made me think that if this home brew recipe gets into rusty bolts as well as it gets into humans then it must be good stuff.

  10. #10

    Default

    RD415, Hi, when you have two dissimilar metals in close proximity in an electrolytic environment, even just damp air, then you really have a mini-battery, with all the attendant ion transport activity going on, the degree of activity depending on the E0 relationships of the metals involved.

    On that note and on a larger scale, I used to run a slip-yard at a coastal marina where a large aluminium trimaran arrived and was penned between two large steel trawlers. All the boats were couple to the marina 240v power supply to maintain lighting and refrigeration, etc. The trawler owners were ecstatic as their boats' corrosion levels (rusting) dropped to zero while the tri was parked there. The tri, on the other hand, virtually dissolved before everyone's eyes. The amount of corrosion had to be seen to be believed, to the extent that the boat became unsafe to walk on in places or to lean on the railings and cross spars. What was operating, in effect, was a huge battery, or, as far as the trawlers were concerned, the tri was acting as a large sacrificial anode!

    Attached FYI is a photo of two (formerly) identical bolts from the same fitting, one before and one after my electrolytic cleanup after 2 hours of cell activity.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

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